UPDATES: Women's round table marks 15 years

Small event has grown to 5 times its size

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Women with entrepreneurial spirits are encouraged to unite.

The annual Women's Business Roundtable, which started 15 years ago, began with an informal lunch of about 30 women. Today it has blossomed into a large-scale event with approximately 150 women expected, and showcasing more than 50 businesses, said Jessica Lambert, Angelo State University Small Business Development Center business adviser and event coordinator.

This year's event — Texas Sized Dreams — is designed to promote the professional development of local and area businesswomen. It will be Oct. 15 at the Cactus Hotel, 36 E. Twohig Ave. The ASU SBDC is accepting registrations for sponsors, vendors and exhibitors.

The cost to attend is $30 per person, and it covers a meal and a goody bag. Raffled door prizes will be awarded throughout the event.

The inaugural event was solely a roundtable discussion about topics pertinent to being successful in the business world. Today there are 15 tables spread out to accommodate the crowd and the plethora of topics that will be discussed by experts or leaders in the field, Lambert said.

The keynote speaker is local business owner Joanna Alexander, who excels in motivational speaking. She will talk about how women got to where they are today in the business world, what their struggles are, and what she would advise other women going into business, Lambert said.

"Basically we haven't seen a big difference between men and women in business these days, but it doesn't hurt to keep reminding them how far they've come," Lambert said.

"It's going to be a lot of fun, and is a great networking event."

For more information and to purchase sponsorships or tickets, call 325-942-2098.

New construction

Quite a bit of dirt is being moved around in San Angelo making way for new construction.

Al Torres, the city's building official, said the city's permit office has been the busiest it's ever been in his four years there.

"I grew up here, and I would say this is probably the most (construction) I've seen — like we're experiencing now. Not in my recollection has there been this much. We did have our ups and downs in the '80s," Torres said.

Torres mentions the 1980s because of the oil boom then, which is what he credits for the recent surge in construction.

One big factor recently in San Angelo has been accommodating the oil field service companies making a presence in the city. Local lodging capacities have been pushed to the maximum lately, and the plethora of new hotels and apartments should ease that problem.

As of the last week of August there were five hotels that either received permits or were in the process, and three apartment complexes, Torres said.

The apartments will be Bentwood Cove, 5014 Westway, for $10 million; Depot Flats, 350 W. Ave. L, for $750,000; and Vista at Red Creek, which is under review, will be a $9.68 million project, according to reports from the city permits office.

Construction for single-family houses has picked up the past year.

"In my four years here, in a good month there would be 14 or 15 new houses," Torres said. "It's been spiking. It has dropped down the past few months, but even at that, it's still higher than what we had before."

Since November until July there were 212 single-family permits issued, making an average of 25.5 houses per month. Until Aug. 21, there had been 24 permits issued for the month, Torres said.

Another construction project creating a buzz is the former Luby's building at 4240 Southwest Blvd.

"The only permit they've pulled so far is a demolition permit. It's going to be a grocery store: Green's Grocery," Torres said. "They called me a couple days ago, the guys doing the demolition, seeing if they can put up a banner because they get people walking up every day asking what's going on in there."